Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Chris Mattock
HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE (UK&E), MACE CONSULTING
Tomorrow's earth, today's journey: Exploring pathways to sustainability
Market View
Produced by:
Interview with
Chris Mattock
HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE (UK&E), MACE CONSULTING
About Chris Mattock
Chris Mattock is the Head of Sustainability in Infrastructure for Europe at Mace. Leading a team within Mace's consultancy arm, he provides expert advice on sustainability aspects of construction projects. His work spans a wide range of areas including carbon reduction, social value, biodiversity, and climate resilience, primarily serving clients across the UK and globally. With a passion for driving positive environmental change, Chris plays a crucial role in shaping sustainable practices both within Mace and for its clients.
What are the primary challenges leaders like yourself face in implementing sustainable practices within your own organisation and client organisations?
Interestingly, we face very few internal challenges at Mace. We've been quite proactive in setting sustainability targets since 2012, covering areas like energy reduction, biodiversity, renewable energy, and achieving carbon net zero. This forward-thinking approach is critical to our business model, allowing us to demonstrate to our clients that these practices are achievable.
Our team is passionate about sustainability, making it easy to get people involved in our corporate initiatives. The real challenges lie in our work with clients, where our impact is much greater. The main hurdles are educating clients, helping them see the bigger picture beyond just carbon reduction, and addressing cost concerns. Another significant challenge is being brought into projects too late. We always strive for early engagement because that's where we can make the biggest impact at the lowest cost.
We don't face many challenges when it comes to reluctance to adopt these initiatives because everyone is enthusiastic about positive change. It's actually critical to our business model to implement these practices ourselves.
How do you balance environmental goals with financial and operational objectives in your corporate strategy?
I don't see it as a balance, but rather it's more about aligning financial and operational objectives with environmental goals. We're facing a climate crisis, and we want to be at the forefront of positive change. Pursuing a sustainable world is one of our three strategic pillars, and we see it as crucial not just environmentally, but also financially and operationally.
There's a lot of business that comes from selling our sustainable services and helping other companies be sustainable. If we didn't have strong, ambitious environmental goals, we would likely suffer financially and operationally. Internally, having these corporate targets helps us get ahead of impending regulations and mitigate the risks that climate change poses to our future goals.
It might look like a dent on the balance sheet this year, but we view it as an investment that will pay off over the next 5, 10, or 20 years. If you consider the risks of not being proactive, it would be a mistake to balance these considerations off against each other as if they were in opposition.
How do you measure the impact of your sustainability programs?
Internally, we use key performance indicators and set ambitious targets. For example, we aim to reduce our own carbon emissions by 10% every year and strive to be powered by 100% renewable energy globally. We're also working on personally increasing biodiversity with a target to enhance 500 hectares by 2026.
However, we also focus on the larger impact we can have through our work with clients. We measure how much carbon we've saved for our clients. Initially, we set a target to save 1 million tons of carbon by 2026, which we achieved much faster than anticipated. So, we've increased that target to 10 million tons.
We report on these achievements annually, and our results are audited. Ultimately, the real impact—and what really matters—is the effect we have on our clients' sustainability efforts. We're considering expanding our metrics to include more aspects like social value, jobs created, and biodiversity externally in the future.
It might look like a dent on the balance sheet this year, but we view it as an investment that will pay off over the next 5, 10, or 20 years.
What role do data analysis and visualisation tools play in shaping your sustainable and environmental strategies?
Data analysis is crucial for us; it's about understanding what we've done and what is possible. It helps us track our journey, set new targets, and update existing ones. It identifies where we can make the most significant impact, and that's likely where we'll define our focus for the future.
Visualisation tools, on the other hand, play a key role from an educational perspective. When we're onboarding and suggesting a future strategy, they are vital. When we're engaging with clients, they prove extremely useful. Visualisations serve as an important educational tool, helping to communicate complex data in an understandable way. They might be less important internally for those who are familiar with the industry and our sustainability objectives and targets, but externally, they're invaluable.
Interestingly, we don't rely heavily on external tools. We invest a lot of time in educating ourselves and learning about current and future requirements. We gather data from our existing systems and our supply chain to ensure that we have the information we need, presented in a way that suits our audience.
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or technologies in sustainability management are you most excited about?
The trend I'm most excited about is the prominent focus sustainability has gained recently. It's at the forefront in nearly every company we work with and features prominently at every conference I attend. This prominence is now typical in every tender we see, with clients involving us earlier in projects, which is excellent because it allows us to debunk myths about the cost of sustainability.
Another significant trend is the use of green certification schemes. These schemes bring a level of standardisation to the industry, helping people understand the key actions they should be taking beyond just focusing on carbon reduction. They provide a clear benchmark, making it easier to identify who is performing well and who isn't, and they reduce the potential for greenwashing.
Lastly, the electrification of everything is a trend I find hugely important. It's a fantastic way to eliminate diesel use and reduce fossil fuel emissions. Decarbonising the start of the process means everything that follows is more sustainable. If you're running on 100% renewable energy, other energy efficiency measures become less critical. So, electrification is a game-changer in our push for sustainability.
The electrification of everything is a trend I find hugely important. Combined with a push for renewable energy, it's a fantastic way to eliminate diesel use and reduce fossil fuel emissions.
About Mace Consulting
Mace is a global company of programme and project delivery consultants and construction experts.
Through its two engines – Consult and Construct – it brings to life iconic skyscrapers, state-of-the-art data centres, life science facilities, social infrastructure and regeneration projects that support communities across the world.
Mace is driven by its purpose to redefine the boundaries of ambition. Founded out of a belief that the industry could be more efficient, innovative and responsible, since 1990 Mace has built a reputation and track record for delivering projects safer, faster, greener and better than ever before.
